Sneakeater

It sounds like they're using a lot of fat. That's always a good sign.

Bux has asked me what this means. It's an adaptation of a very old Hebrew prayer. As adapted, it reads: "Who is like you among all the other writers, Bux? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, awesome in praise, doing wonders?" It was just my restatement of Bux's question above as to who was like him.

Piperno is, IMO, not only the best restaurant in the Ghetto, but one of the best restaurants anywhere. You'd better reserve immediately, though.

It's interesting in a way. I thought the food at the old location was overly pretentious and underachieved. The detractors of the new location think the food is insufficiently pretentious and underachieved. I guess you can never please everyone.

OK wiseguy: I will stay on record as thinking the food at the new location is MUCH better.

I will still stay on the record as thinking the new location is MUCH better.

And what I then find interesting is how powerful first impressions can be. See, I go into the new location the first time and have the stuffed chicken leg and think, "This is really good." Then for an entree I have a plate of chanterelles, scrambled eggs, and potatoes, which is a dish that almost can't help being good (if rather basic). Now maybe if it hadn't been preceeded by the chicken leg, but rather something equally basic, I'd have called "bullshit." Maybe I'd have said the mushrooms should have been a bit better-seasoned -- and aren't they kind of expensive? But coming off the stuffed chicken leg, the mushroom dish just seemed, I dunno, artful. And I don't think anyone really thinks desserts here are a problem. So obviously (and along with the foregoring there's the spectacularly good treatment I got as a guest there) I end up well-disposed to this place. Maybe it's all cuz I started with the chicken leg.

Mi chamocha ba’kochayvim, Bux? Mi kamocha, nedar bakodesh? Nora tehilot, oseh feleh?

Most of the non-hard-news items the Times prints concern only those who are of the type fortunate enough to be able to dine regularly at white-table restaurants. I remember when I was a lower-middle-class teenager starting to read the Times instead of the tabloids, I couldn't believe there actually existed a world that corresponded to the one in which its features appeared to take place. It seemed to be written on another planet.

Sammy at Milk & Honey (in NYC) has served a very good tequila/rosewater cocktail called "La Nina", but I haven't been able to find a recipe for that anywhere, either.

I tried to find a recipe for the fabulous Lil Jig cocktail served at the Pegu Club, but couldn't.

At least in New York -- and somebody told me this is the same as Las Vegas -- they don't do what I'd consider real wine pairings, but rather consult with you as to which of the by-the-glass options would go best with your next course or couple of courses. Is it different in LV?

What I think is amazing is that you somehow managed to find a JGV menu online.

I wonder where it all went.

I'm pretty sure Della Rovere is closed.

As someone who's eaten there a few times, I gotta tell you that it's worth going (once) for the wine list.

Actually I've had that dish, and I thought the lot of fat surrounding the lamb was in fact a good thing. FWIW, I had a problem, when writing about this place, in avoiding sounding more negative than I meant to, also. It's better than "satisfactory". It's just not really really good. (And I did love the wine list.)

There's this guy who's like the lead restaurant reviewer for the New York Times who writes just like that.

True -- and laudable.

It was really irresponsible for Eater to publish that. I'm sorry I spread the mistake here by paraphrasing it. It does seem inconceivable that you would have said anything that stupid. I'm glad (or I hope) it's all clear now. Look forward to your next venture.

I think a bunch of us care.

Each time I enter their bathroom, I'm so proud I managed to figure out how to open the door that I'd barely notice a wheatgrass planter.

Having said all the positive things I said, I have to express the knee-jerk reaction that, if you find the decor offensive (as I didn't but many others have), there's no reason in the world you have to cut the restaurant slack because "there are reasons for it." I'm a consumer. I'm paying heavily for a meal there. Whatever problems they have are their problems, not mine. That said, I'll repeat that I was pleasantly surprised not to be offended by the decor at Urena -- probably because I'd been so prepared for it by the overwhelmingly negative commentary.

Realizing that the time to sample the Summer Menu was probably near elapsing, I stopped in last night. In fact, it turned out that the Summer Menu will be replaced in a couple of weeks. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. Learning that the menu was about to disappear, I decided to exercise my prerogative as a grownup to do whatever the fuck I want and have dessert for dinner, ordering two courses, a glass and a plate. (And a couple of Caiparitinis, which are delicious.) The glass was the "Planteurs" something-or-other (essentially a mango-based flavor profile) and the plate was the "Scotch Plain". It appears to me that the glasses have gone from being the weak sisters of the menu to full equality: this was an astonishing assemblage that I am technically incompetent to describe, but which I was fully competent to enjoy. The "Scotch Plain" plate seemed different from what was described on the menu, but it was another winner. It might say something about r4d's recently suspended breakfast program that my favorite component was an amazingly good sweet roll or bun. As has been observed before, this place is not only notable for its flights of experimental culinary fancy, but also for its complete mastery of the basics. I hate to let the proprietor frame the discussion, but Will had it absolutely right when he said above that the Summer Menu synthesizes the hedonistic appeal of r4d's original menu with the intellectual rigor of the second menu (which many people, including me, found insufficiently appealling). I wanted to order one of everything on the Summer Menu. (And I thought that even before Will comped me a tokaji at the end of my "meal".) Sweeter than anything on the menu, however, was Will's nearly two-year-old daughter, who wandered in with her mom. Clearly Will's most delicious creation. And I think some kind of parenting award is warranted to whomever was able to convince this child of one of the genius dessert chefs of our time that what she really prefers to snack on are raisins and banana.

I've been there on occassions one or two business days apart when the menu had completely changed between visits.